Editorial
Shipping minister's remarks
Is the PM listening?
In what appears to be an ex post-facto justification of an earlier comment, the Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan has again said in so many words that drivers have no need for education.
We are shocked at this brazen reiteration of a remark that amounts to giving licences to unqualified drivers, who have been the principal cause behind most accidents. He contends with the plea that the driver-vehicle ratio being low, such a waiver could be given. This argument does not hold water, because many drivers are on the queue to join the ranks. So there is no dearth on the supply side, only that they are not coming through a process. The mentor-disciple conduit is what they come up through. What is needed is proper system of grooming them through motivation, training and the knowledge of do's and don'ts of traffic rules.
Experts on road transport, eminent citizens and families of the victims who died in August 13's road tragedy at Manikganj have termed the minister's logic to allow his recommended 24,000 unqualified persons to drive as letting loose potential killers.
How can a public representative advice that the lives of the passengers in a vehicle or other road users be left at the mercy of a person who lacks the basic functional education and knowledge in handing a product of modern technology that involves more than just the reflex to take to the wheel?
On the contrary, functional literacy should be the pre-requisite for granting driving licences. In all, we regard the shipping minister's remarks as untenable and unacceptable.
This is not for the first time that a minister has talked out of line. Some other ministers have done it as well despite the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's exhortations to the contrary. Such irresponsible utterances by ministers can only erode the credibility of the government. We draw the attention of the PM once again and hope she is listening.
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